Hydrogels are water-swellable or water-swollen materials whose structure is typically defined by a crosslinked or interpenetrating network of hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers. The hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers can be water-soluble in free form, but in a hydrogel they may be rendered insoluble generally due to the presence of covalent, ionic, or physical crosslinks. In the case of physical crosslinking, the linkages can take the form of entanglements, crystallites, or hydrogen-bonded structures. The crosslinks in a hydrogel provide structure and physical integrity to the polymeric network.
Hydrogels can be classified as amorphous, semicrystalline, hydrogen-bonded structures, supermolecular structures, or hydrocolloidal aggregates. Numerous parameters affect the physical properties of a hydrogel, including porosity, pore size, nature of gel polymer, molecular weight of gel polymer, and crosslinking density. The crosslinking density influences the hydrogel's macroscopic properties, such as volumetric equilibrium swelling ratio, compressive modulus, or mesh size. Pore size and shape, pore density, and other factors can impact the surface properties, optical properties, and mechanical properties of a hydrogel.
Hydrogels have shown promise in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, mainly due to their high water content and rubbery or pliable nature, which can mimic natural tissue and can facilitate the release of bioactive substances at a desired physiological site. For example, hydrogels have been used and/or proposed in a variety of tissue treatment applications, including as implants, tissue adhesives, bone grafts for spinal and orthopedic treatments such as meniscus and articular cartilage replacement, and intervertebral disc nucleoplasty. One drawback to the use of conventional hydrogels in certain tissue treatment applications, and in particular bone tissue treatments, is that such hydrogels are typically weak materials that fracture easily and do not have desired levels of durability and wear resistance. Devices made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels have been observed to fail due to wear, such as by tearing, abrasion, or shredding.
Mixing two or more polymers together to produce blends or alloys is a strategy for achieving a specific combination of physical properties. Mixing, as used herein, means the break-up of droplets of one polymer to obtain a dispersed phase with a very small size in another polymer. Normally, blending, also referred to as compounding, is used to combine the properties of two or more polymers and is performed in extruders. However, it is often found that the material properties are not as good as expected due to a poor interfacial adhesion between the minor and the major component.
Thus, there is a need for an efficient and cost-effective means of preparing hydrogels having desired physical properties.